OOC:
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The consensus seems to be to move on to Histhaven. So be it.
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THE ROAD TO HISTHAVEN
Aleksey, Carric, Markal, and Penny, making their way through a murky wood, easily find the road. It is a simple dirt road and does not appear to have seen much traffic in recent days. Given the Prince's directions, the companions travel north along this road.
The companions pass broken and worn road signs. They indicate that the travelers are indeed heading towards Histhaven and also that this road is known as "The Great Road". Along the way, the companions see evidence that farms were once located along this road, but that these farms have been abandoned and succumbed to overgrowth and signs of neglect. Few animals are seen in the wood; the companions occasionally spot a deer or squirrel that flees further into the forest.
The most important detail that each of the companions notice is that the woods, the road signs, the forgotten farms, all show signs of death and decay. This was clearly a peaceful, pastoral region at one time, but
something has cast a shadowy pall over everything.
The companions cross a rotten bridge, just as the Prince described. It is a covered, wooden bridge, once painted some shade of red. The bridge is now
barely serviceable, creaking and replete with cracked and worn planks. The bridge crosses a trickling stream that could easily be crossed by avoiding the bridge altogether. In the bridge, Aleksey thinks he sees a
skull laying among some leaves, but it turns out to be a curious stone shaped like a skull.
Once past the rotten bridge, the companions exit the wood and find themselves on a bleak plain. In the distance, a large structure of some kind sits at the edge of a bluff. As the companions continue along the Great Road, they close in on this edifice, which looks like some sort of keep. The place is worn and dillapidated, as if ravaged by the wear of time. No guards are evident at the gate to this keep. The companions spot heraldry on weathered banners and tapestries that matches what they saw worn by the Prince.
Below the bluff is a small village of perhaps two dozen thatched-roof buildings. The place is depressingly vacant. Perhaps a few people are seen walking about, but the place does not seem
alive in any sense of that term.
As the companions continue, they come upon a peddler, pulling a hand-cart full of spoiled cabbage and radishes. She perks up ever so slightly as she sees the travelers.
"Who are you, then, that come from the Night Wood?" the peddler asks in a crackled voice.